Get started

Use the information in the following topic to navigate this documentation based on your current app building experience, whether you are a Windows Phone developer, a Windows Store developer or an app developer from another platform.

Learn how to share code

As you develop your app for both Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, you should use the strategies described in this documentation to maximize code reuse between the apps. These techniques are all well-known ways for you to write code once and share it across your apps. You should architect your apps with code sharing in mind, while delivering the best user experience tailored to each platform. For more information see:

Learn about platform convergence and the Windows Phone 8 API

We’ve made significant improvements to the Windows Phone API surface area in this release. We’ve added more .NET API and moved to the CoreCLR, the same .NET engine as Windows 8. We’ve also introduced a set of Windows Runtime API and given you the ability to program in native code. This means greater flexibility, more functionality and allows you to build your apps in the language of your choice. For more information, see Windows Phone API reference.

These improvements in the platform also mean that you can immediately take advantage of platform convergence with Windows 8. For example, a lot of the Windows Runtime API we’ve introduced in Windows Phone 8 is common to both Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, making it easier to write once and share code between your apps on both platforms. The platforms also have a set of native API common to both. For more information, see Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 platform comparison.

You’ll find the best opportunity for code sharing in the app logic of your app. Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 both use a XAML-based UI language. The concepts and controls used to build great user experiences are similar on both platforms, but you should tailor these experiences to best suit each platform. For more information, see XAML controls comparison between Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8